A Horror Flick Sneaks Into Disney

What if your family vacation at the Magic Kingdom turned into a phantasmagorical nightmare? That’s the premise of Escape From Tomorrow, an indie secretly shot at Disney World and Disneyland. Written and directed by first-time filmmaker Randy Moore, Escape suggests that the theme parks’ princesses moonlight as prostitutes and the animatronic puppets on the It’s a Small World ride are really fanged devil dolls. Given Disney’s protectiveness of its family-friendly brand, how is this movie breezing into theaters and onto VOD on Oct. 11 instead of drowning in lawsuits? Because the film falls under parody, according to Michael C. Donaldson, the lawyer who vetted the movie. “This film is a parody of Disney, Disney parks, everything Disney,” he says. “Disney presents itself as ‘the happiest place on earth,’ and this film is saying that that ain’t always true.” Disney’s silence on the issue (which includes not responding to EW’s request for comment) has robbed the film of the publicity a legal tussle would attract. But Moore says he’s happy not to have heard a squeak from Mickey. “People think we wanted to be sued,” he says. “But the prospect of spending years in court is not something that interests me.”

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